Duncan on Katrina Comment: “It Was a Dumb Thing to Say”
EmailABC News' Mary Bruce Reports: Education Secretary Arne Duncan apologized this morning
for saying last week that Hurricane Katrina was "the best thing" for
the New Orleans school system.
“I said it in a poor way and I apologize for that. It was a dumb thing
to say. My point was a simple one, that subsequent to that devastating,
devastating tragedy we have seen remarkable progress and that school
system has improved so rapidly it’s been amazing to watch,” Duncan said
this morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Meanwhile local Louisiana education officials have offered their support to the Secretary and backed his original comment.
“What he's saying is commonly held among people here. Little was being
done on school reform prior to the hurricane, the schools were abysmal,
post Katrina people saw an opportunity to build a school district from
the ground up,” Superintendent of the Recovery School District in
Louisiana Paul Vallas told ABC.
“The silver lining to Katrina is what has happened with public
education in Louisiana and New Orleans. If we had not had Katrina it
would not have happened to be honest with you,” added Louisiana
Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek. “I think it's an accurate
statement.”
Santorum: Money Will Not Defeat Obama, Ideas Will 
Rick Santorum's Full Speech at CPAC 2012
another idiot in the Obama cabinet of corruption
Posted by: another crisis another photo op | February 2, 2010, 10:28 am 10:28 am
Puts it right up there with “you’re doin a heck of a job, Brownie”
Posted by: jks | February 2, 2010, 10:43 am 10:43 am
ABC should point out what Duncan did for Chicago schools.
Maybe a hurricane should hit Chicago.
Posted by: larry | February 2, 2010, 10:49 am 10:49 am
At least the Obama administration can admit that a hurricane did more for Louisiana education than years of Democrat rule ever could. With corrupt leaders like Landrieu, it should come as no surprise.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 2, 2010, 10:56 am 10:56 am
With corrupt leaders like Landrieu, it should come as no surprise.
Waht about the $300 million?
Posted by: Creole | February 2, 2010, 10:59 am 10:59 am
And here we thought the Veep was going to be the eternal foot in the mouth of this administration. Napolitano and Duncan are way ahead of O’Biden in gaffes.
Posted by: matt | February 2, 2010, 11:16 am 11:16 am
This is true – especially since so many of the worst students in New Orleans were dumped into the Houston school district after Katrina and are still there all these years later.
Posted by: Sam | February 2, 2010, 11:30 am 11:30 am
Perfect example of having to be politically correct again. What was said was totally accurate and true! Supt. even said so himself. he should not have to defend himself. Let people just call it like it is. I am telling you what we have to quit being so politically correct. We would get so much more done in this country if we could just say it.**I am not talking about derogitory, hate speech, i am just talking about if you think its true say it.
Posted by: Ted | February 2, 2010, 12:10 pm 12:10 pm
The New Orleans public school system was destroyed prior to Katrina. The State of Louisiana had already taken over the schools before Katrina. Duncan doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
What Katrina did was allow a bunch of federal money to come in to help. Katrina did give NOLA a reset button. Of course the school system benefited from that too.
Posted by: Roux | February 2, 2010, 12:24 pm 12:24 pm
New Orleans benefited from the self-sufficient people who stuck it out and remained behind to rebuild. Those who were totally dependent on Democrat politicians for generations and couldn’t survive on their own, were dumped in Houston and other way too generous cities.
Posted by: gk | February 2, 2010, 10:28 pm 10:28 pm
A vivid picture is beginning to emerge of this very inept administration.
Today, Rahm Emanual apologizes for his dumb remarks, Arne Duncan does the same for his dumb remarks and Obama sends a letter to Harry Reid (kind of apology) clarifying his dumb remarks about Las Vegas.
These guys shoot from the hip. I call that management of incompetent shooters.
Posted by: calif Guy | February 3, 2010, 12:01 am 12:01 am
Yes, absolutely Duncan’s comments were poorly worded and he owed an apology for the way he phrased what he was getting at, but I’m amazed at how many people have suggested he be fired or resign yet these same people were silent on a much more important issue that resulted in the loss of life.
There was a government leader who said “I don’t think anybody could have anticipated the breach of the levees” during Katrina and that we were fully prepared for it. Five months later a video surfaced proving that this person had been repeatedly warned about the severity of Katrina by FEMA, the Louisiana Governor, and the Head of the National Hurricane Center, and the strong likelihood of the levees failing, one, two, and three days prior to the storm. Thus he was caught in a boldface lie. Seems like that’s certainly more severe than a highly insensitive choice of words like Duncan’s.
Oh who was this person who lied about being warned and that everything was taken care of? Our illustrious former President. You can bury your heads in the sand or you can look it up yourself quite easily.
Paul Harris
Posted by: Paul Harris | February 3, 2010, 3:26 am 3:26 am